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pritz
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject: Math skill vs People skill? |
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| A bunch of my friends were fightin over this the other day. What is more important, the math skills of poker, or the people skills(knowing the people and psycological aspects). I think they both go hand in hand. I think math is the basics of poker. you have to be able to calculate odds of your hands, pot odds, implied odds etc. But i think knowing the people is the more advanced parts of poker. Lets say you have a flush draw. so you have 9 outs. so you need about 1.8-1 in the pot to justify drawing to it, but if you know that your opponent will fold if you move in on him, then you do it to take the pot down right there. Even tho the pot isnt justifying that move, you do it because you know you can win it right there.(instead of gambling for the draw, because if you miss, the pot is gone) I think the odds are important, but sometimes the correct move isnt always mathimaticly incorrect. There are alot of psycological factor that have to go along with it to make the correct decision. What do you think? |
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lork
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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You obviously need both. But i would much rather have good psychological skills and decent math skills, than good math skills and decent psychological skills.
I have friends that are math geniuses (Actuaries and engineers) and they are awful in poker. But my "sharp" friends are all good at poker.
Also, a player can learn the math skills over time. I think the psychological aspects of poker are natural and harder to develop. Its like trying to teach somoene common sense. |
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razor
Joined: 21 Dec 2005
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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I'd much rather be able to read people than know the odds of hitting a straight.
I know a lot of guys who aren't necessarily "educated", in fact, they're rather crude. But they are great poker players because of their feel for their opponents. |
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DeepBlue
Joined: 19 Dec 2005
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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You want both, ideally. I'd go with the mathematical side of things to be honest, you will come out on top knowing the odds preflop, after the flop, at the river etc.
Psychology is nice, but you are prone to misreads and you can't get away just by trying to "guess" if you are on top. |
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